Remember when Oklahoma won the National Title in 2000? Not a single OU starter lost a single start due to injury! My research has shown that teams that benefited from very few injuries, in this case 6 or less, usually have a weaker season the next year.

The bottom line is, teams that have suffered a lot of injuries the previous year will generally have a better year the next season. A lot of backups were forced to play during the injury-riddled year, gaining valuable experience and the team figures to not be so injury-prone the next year.

In a study over the last 10 years, my research shows that if a team had 32 or more starts lost to injury the prior season, they improved or had the same record the next year on 88 out of 114 occasions for an 77.2% success rate.

For 2013, 12 teams suffered 32 or more starts lost to injury in 2012 and 8 of the 12 teams either saw their record stay the same or improve. One of the best examples was Colorado St, which lost 53 starts in 2012 to injury (and suspension) and went 4-8. Last year, they were much healthier and would go 8-6 including getting their first bowl win since 2001.

Here are the teams that suffered 32 or more starts lost to injury last year, which is a record:

Most Starts Lost To Injury in 2013

Rank

Team

Total Starts Lost

1

Idaho

55

2

Maryland

53

3

Florida

51

3

California

51

5

Houston

50

6

Southern Miss

48

6

TCU

48

8

Bowling Green

46

9

Tulsa

44

10

Georgia St

43

11

Ole Miss

42

11

Navy

42

13

FIU

41

13

Texas

41

15

Appalachian St

40

15

Indiana

40

17

Auburn

39

17

Notre Dame

39

19

Utah St

38

19

Miami, Oh

38

19

Texas Tech

38

22

Troy

37

23

UAB

36

24

San Jose St

35

24

Ohio

35

24

Army

35

24

Rice

35

24

Connecticut

35

29

Misssissippi St

33

29

Boise St

33

29

Iowa St

33

32

USC

32

32

Purdue

32

Idaho, in Paul Petrino’s first season as head coach, had the most starts lost in the country with 55 which could have been a result of playing a very tough schedule as they were worn down playing the likes of Northern Illinois, Washington St, Fresno St, Ole Miss and Florida St. Maryland has been a hard luck team in the Randy Edsall era as they lost 37 starts to injury in 2012 and went just 4-8. Last year they improved their record to 7-6 but lost 53 starts to injury. Arguably no team in the country lost more key players to injury than the Florida Gators last year as they plummeted to a 4-8 record (11-2 in 2012) mostly due to their 51 starts lost to injury.

Now let’s look at the teams that had great fortune with very few injuries. With teams playing a 12-game schedule, I went for the magic number of 6 lost, figuring that is less than one half of one starter lost to injury during the year. Over the past 10 years only 23 of the 76 teams (30%) that had this good fortune managed to improve their record the next year.Last year there were six teams that suffered 6 or less starts to injury in 2012 (good fortune). Four of those 6 teams of those teams saw their record get weaker including Louisiana Tech who went from 9-3 to 4-8 and Northwestern who went from 10-3 to 5-7.

Here are the teams that suffered 6 or less starts lost to injury last year:

Least Starts Lost To Injury in 2013

Rank

Team

Total Starts Lost

1

North Texas

3

1

Penn St

3

3

Iowa

5

4

Colorado

6

4

Arizona St

6

North Texas had one of their best seasons in school history last year going 9-4 including grabbing their first bowl win since 2002. One of the main reasons for their success was they stayed remarkably healthy as they lost just 3 starts to injury.

Here is the complete list broken down by total starts lost and also by starts lost on offense and defense which can be indicators of one unit underachieving or overachieving last year.

Off

Def

Total

Starts

Starts

Starts

Starts

Lost

Rank

Team

Lost

Lost

Lost

%

1

Idaho

36

19

55

20.80%

2

Maryland

27

26

53

18.50%

3

Florida

30

21

51

19.30%

3

California

12

39

51

19.30%

5

Houston

44

6

50

17.50%

6

Southern Miss

20

28

48

18.20%

6

TCU

25

23

48

18.20%

8

Bowling Green

20

26

46

14.90%

9

Tulsa

21

23

44

16.70%

10

Georgia St

27

16

43

16.30%

11

Ole Miss

25

17

42

14.70%

11

Navy

25

17

42

14.70%

13

FIU

25

16

41

15.50%

13

Texas

26

15

41

14.30%

15

Appalachian St

20

20

40

15.20%

15

Indiana

31

9

40

15.20%

17

Auburn

15

24

39

12.70%

17

Notre Dame

21

18

39

13.60%

19

Utah St

33

5

38

12.30%

19

Miami, Oh

32

6

38

14.40%

19

Texas Tech

15

23

38

13.30%

22

Troy

7

30

37

14.00%

23

UAB

13

23

36

13.60%

24

San Jose St

16

19

35

13.30%

24

Ohio

18

17

35

12.20%

24

Army

12

23

35

13.30%

24

Rice

6

29

35

11.40%

24

Connecticut

22

13

35

13.30%

29

Misssissippi St

10

23

33

8.00%

29

Boise St

19

14

33

11.50%

29

Iowa St

23

10

33

12.50%

32

USC

12

20

32

10.40%

32

Purdue

25

7

32

12.10%

34

Oregon St

11

20

31

10.80%

34

Utah

19

12

31

11.70%

34

BYU

13

18

31

10.80%

34

Cincinnati

26

5

31

10.80%

38

Air Force

14

16

30

11.40%

38

Boston College

11

19

30

10.50%

40

Texas A&M

3

26

29

10.10%

40

Rutgers

14

15

29

10.10%

42

Western Michigan

23

5

28

10.60%

42

Oklahoma

14

14

28

9.80%

44

Georgia

16

11

27

9.40%

44

Hawaii

17

10

27

10.20%

44

UTEP

17

10

27

10.20%

44

East Carolina

14

13

27

9.40%

44

Pittsburgh

20

7

27

9.40%

49

Arkansas

11

15

26

9.80%

49

UCLA

22

4

26

9.10%

49

Northwestern

10

16

26

9.80%

49

Virginia Tech

10

16

26

9.10%

49

NC State

18

8

26

9.80%

49

Georgia Tech

12

14

26

9.10%

55

Vanderbilt

14

10

24

8.40%

55

San Diego St

2

22

24

8.40%

55

UMass

12

12

24

9.10%

55

Nebraska

22

2

24

8.40%

59

UNLV

9

14

23

8.00%

59

Central Michigan

14

9

23

8.70%

59

Ohio St

6

17

23

7.50%

62

Fresno St

3

19

22

7.70%

62

Nevada

18

4

22

8.30%

62

Northern Illinois

13

9

22

7.10%

65

Alabama

8

13

21

7.30%

65

USF

10

11

21

8.00%

67

South Alabama

19

1

20

7.60%

67

LSU

11

9

20

7.00%

67

Michigan St

15

5

20

6.50%

67

Minnesota

19

1

20

7.00%

67

SMU

10

10

20

7.60%

72

Ball St

6

13

19

6.60%

72

Baylor

12

7

19

6.60%

72

Virginia

8

11

19

7.20%

75

Louisiana

1

17

18

6.30%

75

Washington St

12

6

18

6.30%

75

Oregon

18

0

18

6.30%

75

Wyoming

7

11

18

6.80%

75

Kent St

7

11

18

6.80%

75

Old Dominion

9

9

18

6.80%

75

FAU

8

10

18

6.80%

75

Miami, FL

16

2

18

6.30%

75

Wake Forest

10

8

18

6.80%

84

WKU

10

7

17

6.40%

84

Kentucky

9

8

17

6.40%

84

New Mexico

13

4

17

6.40%

84

Akron

9

8

17

6.40%

84

New Mexico St

8

9

17

6.40%

84

Georgia Southern

13

4

17

7.00%

90

Stanford

3

13

16

5.20%

91

Arizona

13

2

15

5.20%

91

Toledo

4

11

15

5.70%

91

Marshall

2

13

15

4.90%

91

UTSA

7

8

15

5.70%

95

Washington

10

4

14

4.90%

95

Buffalo

7

7

14

4.90%

95

Kansas

10

4

14

5.30%

95

Syracuse

5

9

14

4.90%

95

North Carolina

8

6

14

4.90%

100

Tennessee

6

7

13

4.90%

100

Eastern Michigan

7

6

13

4.90%

100

Wisconsin

9

4

13

4.50%

103

Louisiana Tech

8

4

12

4.50%

103

Michigan

4

8

12

4.20%

103

Memphis

1

11

12

4.50%

106

Arkansas St

8

3

11

3.80%

106

South Carolina

5

6

11

3.80%

106

Colorado St

5

6

11

3.60%

106

Temple

4

7

11

4.20%

106

Clemson

9

2

11

3.80%

111

ULM

8

2

10

3.80%

111

Texas St

8

2

10

3.80%

111

Tulane

6

4

10

3.50%

111

Middle Tenn

6

4

10

3.50%

111

Oklahoma St

7

3

10

3.50%

111

West Virginia

4

6

10

3.80%

111

UCF

3

7

10

3.50%

111

Duke

4

6

10

3.20%

111

Florida St

1

9

10

3.20%

120

Missouri

6

3

9

2.90%

120

Kansas St

7

2

9

3.10%

120

Illinois

7

2

9

3.40%

123

Louisville

6

1

7

2.40%

124

Colorado

0

6

6

2.30%

124

Arizona St

3

3

6

1.90%

126

Iowa

1

4

5

1.70%

127

North Texas

2

1

3

1.00%

127

Penn St

1

2

3

1.10%

PhilSteele.com will have a page updated weekly dedicated to starts lost again this year. We will track each team's starts lost for the 2014 season so you can see which teams are really banged up and those that have remained very healthy. We even include weekly updated start charts for each of the teams!

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